About
Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students.[6] The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The Inamori School of Engineering and the School of Art and Design.
Alfred University was founded as a non-sectarian select school by Seventh Day Baptists.[7] In 1836, Bethuel C. Church, a Seventh Day Baptist, was asked to organize a college in Alfred and began teaching, receiving financial assistance from the Seventh Day Baptist Educational Society with resources, in part, from "Female Educational Societies" of local churches.[8] Unusual for the time, the school was co-educational, and within its first 20 years, it also enrolled its first African-American and Native American students.[7] From its founding as a select school, the institution received a charter as Alfred Academy from the New York State Board of Regents in 1842.